Seven of Pentacles
In the Seven of Pentacles we see a young man with a garden tool who has been working very hard tending his crops, and he now stands, taking a momentary break, looking at the fruits of his labor. The large plant is a lush green with large gleaming golden pentacles, symbolizing that he has done a good job this far.
In the seven we enter the final stage of our project and the fulfillment of the potential of the suit of pentacles. According to Paul Fenton-Smith, the upright seven's carry the theme of not giving up. We have come pretty far on a journey and are beginning to see the results of our hard work. It has not been easy, sevens are also a time of tests, trials and tribulations. In the seven, we must decide where to go from here. This is a time that we are tempted to give up or sit back on our laurels and rest, however in the upright seven, we are encouraged to push on.
This is a card that is debated and you must assess for yourself how you see yourself if the situation. Some see this as a man who is patiently stepping back and, with a look of contented satisfaction, is feeling pleased with his hard work, and the lovely yield it is returning. At this point, you can step back a little bit, and move into more of a maintenance phase of your project while you consider how you would like to refine your goals and plans for the future. Like a farmer waiting patiently for his fruits to ripen, you are waiting for your investments to mature or pay off.
In other situations, you may be thinking that you have done an enormous amount of work and you are not sure if it is all worth it, and if it is worth continuing. You may need to carefully consider what you need to "prune away" at this stage. Although these are both possibilities, I generally see the upright seven and its theme of not giving up as a time to press on, even if you find yourself in what I like to call the "dangerous middles".
In the "dangerous middles", you've lost the fervor and gusto you had when first starting your project. Though you had no rewards yet, the excitement had you going. Near the end, you know you are almost there, and you can see tangible proof of your hard work and efforts in the form of blossoming rewards. In the middle though, the excitement has wore off, you are weary from doing the continuous hard work necessary, and have yet to see any tangible proof of your rewards. You may begin to wonder if it's all worth it. The dangerous middles. This is the test.
This card is associated with the abundant sign of Taurus and ruled by the taskmaster planet Saturn. A perfect representation for this card, hard work yields results. Saturn is all about hard work, putting our nose to the grindstone and getting the job done, whether we feel like it or not. No one ever equates Saturn with fun, yet when a project is finished, you look back over all of your hard work and know that you were able to persevere and come away with something real and tangible because you had Saturn in your corner. In Astrology it is said that periods of time where you are undergoing a Saturn transit can be the most difficult times in your life as far as the load you are carrying, yet those are the periods you emerge from with major accomplishments; the most successful periods of your life.
The Seven of Pentacles, like Saturn, is concerned with the long-range. There are no get rich quick schemes here. This is all about putting in the hard work, day after day, over the long run to see real, tangible results. You are taking the long term view on something, looking at how it will pay off in the long run. You could be investing in stocks or bonds that take a long time to mature, but have a stable predictable growth pattern. If you have already been working hard on something for awhile, this card could indicate that you will start to see some reward soon.
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Eight of Pentacles>
Seven of Pentacles Reversed
In the Seven of Pentacles reversed, it carries on the seven's theme, according to Paul Fenton-Smith of not holding on. You may be so fixated on your current way of doing things that you hold onto those systems and strategies without allowing any room for growth or restructuring to better suit your needs as you go.
It could be that you are holding onto a project or investment, even a relationship, that is beginning to show it has no promise of a return because you can't bear to think about flushing away all of the hard work you did, seemingly for nothing. At this point, you may have to recognize that no matter how hard you work, this project just has no promise, and there will be little yield. You are wasting your time and efforts.
Investments are not likely to pay off at this time, and similarly you need to be careful of what you take on financially; just as you may have put in a lot of hard work for little result, as a pentacle card, you could also lay out a lot of money with no return. Any project that you take on now requiring an outlay of cash could turn out to be a "money pit".
As stated above, it could be the WAY you are doing things that you need to let go of. Remember that pentacles are also about values, systems and organization, as well as priorities. It could be that you need to go back to the drawing board and restructure your plans to figure out what works and what doesn't, what's a time waster, and where you could better be focusing your energy and skills.
Alternatively, it could be that you are not giving your investments enough time to mature. The Seven of Pentacles is a card of long range plans and yields. You cannot plant your seed one day and expect a full bloom complete with ready-to-be-picked fruit a week later. The crop takes time to mature and yield. Be sure you are giving the proper amount of time and hard work to your project before you quickly move on to the next one.
In the reversed seven, you have to be able to recognize what is working and what isn't. Nip what isn't working in the bud and refine your plans to tend more carefully to what is. In planting seeds, not every one of them comes to fruition; some won't sprout at all, others you'll have to prune parts of. You have to be prepared for that. There will always be complications and losses, you must anticipate this so instead of feeling frustrated, you can persevere with patience. Be flexible and willing to pull projects that aren't working and replace them with new ones that show promise.
